Blasphemy - A Victimless Thought-Crime

[Dimmesdale]

Blasphemy is only wrong or bad or whatever - in the context of those who think it is bad.

If your world is one in which everyone around you considers it bad - and therefore you do to - then yes, blasphemy is willful evil. But again, only if you buy, hook, line and sinker - into that phony world.

If you consider that world as your own, and YOU reside there - then a stain is upon you.

But if you consider yourself free and liberated away from that world, that you have nothing invested in that world - then Blasphemy is nothing. It has no meaning. It simply serves to free you from others' false opinion of yourself.

I, for one, can no longer abide to inhabit a world where my freedom is not respected.

And so I see my blasphemy as simply me shaking off the tethers that have so long stifled me.

I leave your limited world, and enter the true and real one.....

[Tcg]

[Replying to Dimmesdale in post #1]

At least this isn't the pretentious and totally posed version where they play on a rooftop pretending to be the Beatles. In that version Bono is also wearing a shirt he copied from Larry Norman. The only worse example of their behavior is when they played Red Rocks and their manger tried to equate their appearance to one of Dylan's. Nothing original, just very poor copies of truly great musicians.


Tcg

[tomblj]

Afternoon. Just saw this post and thought we could riff a bit.
Pretty sure I know exactly what you're getting at but thought we could have some fun?

Blasphemy is only wrong or bad or whatever - in the context of those who think it is bad.

Fair enough. Just a statement though. Like "Blasphemy is nothing. It has no meaning." - for those who think it doesn't.
But doesn't blasphemy implicitly legitimize what it rails against? Otherwise it would truly have no meaning?

If your world is one in which everyone around you considers it bad - and therefore you do to - then yes, blasphemy is willful evil. But again, only if you buy, hook, line and sinker - into that phony world.

A bit of polemics here. Quite transparent. Who are you convincing?
If that 'world', whatever it is, is so phony, then why bother with it at all? And I'm not sure what your 'world' is... but why isn't it as phony as all the rest?

If you consider that world as your own, and YOU reside there - then a stain is upon you.

But if you consider yourself free and liberated away from that world, that you have nothing invested in that world - then Blasphemy is nothing. It has no meaning.

It simply serves to free you from others' false opinion of yourself.

A little unsure here. Are you free from others' false opinions about you or your own opinions about yourself... based on other people's opinions?

I, for one, can no longer abide to inhabit a world where my freedom is not respected.

What freedom? Freedom to do/say what? To offend people? Is respect earned or deserved?

And so I see my blasphemy as simply me shaking off the tethers that have so long stifled me.

Perhaps there's a better way.

I leave your limited world, and enter the true and real one.....

Hilarious. Sounds like a manifesto.

[Dimmesdale]

Afternoon. Just saw this post and thought we could riff a bit.
Pretty sure I know exactly what you're getting at but thought we could have some fun?

I myself don't even remember what exactly I was getting at in this post. It's been a while. However, looking back, it seems to me my views deserve an upgrade.

But doesn't blasphemy implicitly legitimize what it rails against? Otherwise it would truly have no meaning?

True. If blasphemy is directed against what is good, or pure, or holy, then that rather undercuts its whole project of denigration. It might however be directed at things which only appear good, or pure, or holy -- but which carry along with those connotations other, hidden meanings.

I'm reminded of that one guy (decades ago probably, I don't remember the exact name...) who beheaded that statue of the Virgin Mary because he hated women. I suppose he found that statue to be very irate, since it evoked certain sentiments in him that he couldn't bear. The word 'phony' comes to mind -- in that sometimes our most vaunted public relics and symbols belie what they are supposed to represent. I don't blame this guy if he had a bad mother, or some other experience with women that spurred him to do what he did -- but now I feel that his anger was misdirected. Not everyone feels like him. The public square doesn't deserve to be desecrated because of one person's private disinheritance of the virtues of femininity.

If that 'world', whatever it is, is so phony, then why bother with it at all? And I'm not sure what your 'world' is... but why isn't it as phony as all the rest?

I think the blasphemer is admittedly a religious person. I think if someone really invests any amount of time in a private world, then that world becomes him, to one extent or another.

I have come to terms that I do have my own world. A world of pure religion. I have myself come to terms with the fact that a True devotee of Truth, is not interested in blaspheming Anyone.

Perhaps there's a better way.

I think so.

Hilarious. Sounds like a manifesto.

Whatever 'manifesto' I am following now, is not of my making, but has been conferred upon me.